


Summer Talks

by LizziePereira



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 23:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14413104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizziePereira/pseuds/LizziePereira
Summary: It's the same premisse of the 2016 game Firewatch, but this time with Jaime and Brienne.Jaime wants to run away from family issues and decides to get a job as forest ranger, and gets in lon talks with his boss, Brienne, a young woman who also works there to avoid the rest of the world.





	Summer Talks

“Wait- argh! Fuck you!” Jaime Lannister screamed as he dangled by the edge of a cliff, holding onto it with his left hand. It wasn’t the biggest cliff ever; if he fell, would probably just get some scratches and feel some pain for a couple of days, but the scare was making him slightly regret the decision of coming to the middle of nowhere.

He lift himself up and sat on the thin trail, breathing in and out. He was very tired and thirsty, sweating like he hadn’t in years. Needed to reflect about his life. Yes, more than he already had.

A family scandal that almost led him and his siblings to bankruptcy. He couldn’t go get lunch on the nearby restaurant because everybody, from the waiter to the customers to the people crossing the streets filled his vision with judging looks. It was such a depressing aura that he couldn’t bear remembering it. Yes, all that was left was this quiet forest. He got up and went on his way.

Hopefully, the forest wasn’t going to be the labyrinth it felt at that moment. He was just following the trail and some occasional signs, but was starting to feel worried - what if he had got lost? He couldn’t believe he was going to fail the job on day one, and was about to head back to the entrance when he saw a small wooden sign on a tree some steps ahead. 

He ran to it and sighed, relieved. “Two Forks Tower - One mile” it read, pointing east, the direction of the trail. He kept his way and not a minute later he saw it through the trunks of the trees.

“Finally, there you are.” he told the lookout tower. He had agreed to arrive at 9AM, but the sun was too high to be so early. And only a good half an hour later he was climbing the stairs, not wanting to know what time it was, already feeling all the complaints he’d have to endure in his first day of work. 

The view was wonderful from up the firewatch tower, ready to be admired from gigantic windows that covered the upper half of each wall. There were many colors to be admired, all around and in the distance; the green of the trees, the blue of the waters, and the brown of the mountains beyond the national park, embracing whoever stood in the middle of the room; but this seemingly everlasting extension of woods, at first so charming and peaceful, suddenly made him feel a bit uncomfortable. Those would be the longest three months of his life, but that was actually precisely what he needed. Jaime Lannister could get used to nice landscapes. 

The lookout, in contrast, was quite small, but felt cosy. Sink and oven on one side, bed and dresser on the other, some shelves above the windows and a big, circular table in the middle of the room, with the map of the region imprinted on it, almost as if it were a medieval thing. The bathroom unfortunately was all the way down, but it would just take some getting used to, he guessed. 

“Two Forks, are you there?” - He instinctively jumped to his defense position, but it was just a radio on the table. He pulled one or two long breaths before answering.

“Hey. Jaime Lannister here, who’s there?”

“Oh, there you are! I was about to send someone for you.” The other side of the line appeared to belong to a young woman, maybe even a teenage girl. He expected his Mrs. Stark would be older...?

“Just got lost a bit, but the trail helped me.” 

“Look around, there should be a map of the area inside, and a backpack with essential items for your job. You should take them and get ready for your first task.”

The paper map was on the bedside, alongside a compass he didn’t know how to handle, and the backpack. Inside there were ropes, hooks, lantern, batteries, a medical kit and a bottle of mineral water. 

“So, you ready yet? There were kids down-”

“Just a second, jeez.” He said as he shrugged into the backpack. She sounds so young… “I don’t even know if... are you Mrs. Stark?”

“No, I’m Brienne Tarth. S-sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. Mrs. Stark runs the company, but she doesn’t usually work directly with the hikers. I’ll be your boss, so to speak.”

“Go on then, kid, where do I head?” He said, trying to find himself in the map.

“If... you’re not happy with something here, you can still leave. There are people interested in the position that were dismissed, but we can call them any time.”

“Ahn, no, I’m fine.”

“It’s really not a problem-”

“I’m fine! Where is the great task?”

She took a deep sigh of annoyance before speaking. “There were some kids down the lane in the morning. This means the area around must be a mess. I need you to take a plastic bag to clean everything, and check for lost properties.”

“On the way, boss. Call you when everything is sparkling clean.”

“...Brienne’s enough.” She turned off.

\---

“Are you sure there isn’t any cache box beside a willow around you?”

“No! Just... a bunch of other trees!”

The lake didn’t seem that far away in the map, and it would just take some walking to the west of the lookout. That was what Jaime thought, and it turns out he never found it, and got slightly worried. When another hour of walking went past without a sign of any water, he finally called the Brienne girl. He wanted to do things on his own, but would rather lose pride than himself.

Sadly, this wasn’t being that helpful either. 

“It wouldn’t have happened if you’d taken the trail. That’s Life 101!”

“I thought it would be faster! Come on, on the map it seems like the lake is just to the left-”

“You ARE aware that the scale in the map isn’t the same as in-?”

“I am well aware, thanks. It just... felt faster.”

“Well, good to see that now you know better.”

“I’d love to have a next time to put my learning in practice.”

“You will! Don’t... don’t stop moving; I can’t see nor figure where you are, you need to keep  
walking till you find a trail.” 

“Why would I keep walking? I’ll end up even more lost.”

“I have to know where you are! You say there’s a bunch of trees around, well what a great help! There’s lots of them around me, too, and I’m inside my lookout.”

“I’m.... just scared of wandering out of the place.”

“You won’t - the borders are natural, it’s a free fall to death. The only way out the area is either through the main gate we keep a watch on, or by falling off a cliff.”

“Ok, ok, I’ll do that.” A bit more determined, he went looking for the trail, half walking, half running, not even paying attention to the direction. 

“Are you in or can you see a slope? I’d recommend you go up, it’s easier to find the trail like that.”

“Of course I’m going up, that’s a pretty obvious train of thought you know,”, Jaime said, turning around to follow her advice.

From the small peak he reached, it was indeed easier to spot the trail, right on the other side of where he was: a thin, definitely negligible mark on the land, thinner than the one he used to get to the lookout, that would be just a mark on land in most forests.

“That’s what you call a trail?”

“You’ll get used to it. Now try to follow the direction you were heading using the trail.”

Jaime follows, hoping this will really get him to the lake and not back to the lookout. “Well, how would you know this will work? How can I know if you even know this place?” 

“As I’ve said, you can leave whenever you want. I’ve been in your place before, I can do it again.”

“You guys need no trails, I see. But what about the visitors?”

“They only come here for the lake. You’ll see how that area from the main entrance has more signs.”

“Well, they should be everywhere! How could you allow this place to become so recluse? This job should help the visitors to go all around here, too.”

“I don’t really care how you think the forest should look like.”

“Just saying you didn’t seem to do much before me.” 

“Shut up! You know nothing about me. Follow your trail.”

And he did. Decided to go west, determined to find the damned lake. He wouldn’t let some walking defeat him.

\---

A sign pointing the way to the lake appeared behind the trees only minutes after he got in the trail, and half an hour later he was already heading back, carrying a bag full of cans and paper. There were quite a few trash cans all around the lake, but apparently people were blind or something. He certainly was. If he hadn’t been so submerged in his own dreams, which seemed more like reality, he’d have seen everything faster. 

His mind quickly wandered and locked on thoughts about his broken family, so worried about themselves that it dissolved into nothing. At least he could physically flee, try to cope with everything in his own way. No help from none of them, thank you; their presence was the last thing he needed. 

Actually, it was impossible not to wonder how Cersei might be handling things right now... but he shouldn’t. That was his past. A horrible one, and he was here to forget. He should stop thinking about it, and use his brain to focus on how he would get back to the lookout, for instance. The sun was already going down, and the lookout was supposed to be pretty close, according to a quite-hidden sign he’d just encountered. However, if he were following the map correctly, the place should be at a distance of 2 miles, and not in the direction he’d been following since the lake.

“I’ll definitely lose some weight”, he thought, turning around.

\---

The door opened slowly, and the one that passed through let his body fall on the bed, not even bothering to turn on the light or search for something to eat. It must have been at least eight o’clock, he thought. “Can’t even feel my legs.”

He made a last effort to pick up the backpack on the floor, to get the radio.

“Just to say I’m home.” Didn’t expect to sound so tired.

“Wait, what? You were still out there?” She picked it up really quickly.

“Yeah, got lost again, but could manage this time. I got all the trash, your task is completed.”

“Ah, good, okay. Well, I’m glad you could make it safely. But do call me whenever you’re in  
trouble.”

“Didn’t work well last time, did it?”

“Well, you found the lake, right? I’m here to guide you. But it’s no use when you don’t wanna do as I say. You made it back after getting to a higher place, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“So.”

“I suppose thanks, then.” His walking clothes were still on, but Jaime was already curled on bed with eyes closed.

“Get some sleep.”

“Considering it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks a lot to hardlyfatal for beta reading this chapter! I hope you enjoy this little project of mine. Always open to opinions and critics regarding the story, its pacing, how close the characters are to their book counterparts, and how "natural" my English feels. Also I've never been to the US so my description of the forest may be unreliable; I'm guiding myself mostly by the game map. But don't shy away from pointing mistakes, please, I want this little project to be as good as possible.  
> I appreciate all of you who have taken the time to read everything!


End file.
